Thursday, September 18, 2014

Michelangelo, A Life in Six Masterpieces by Miles J. Unger

In Michelangelo, A Life in Six Masterpieces the reader is
treated to 400+ pages about the life and work of the Italian Renaissance artist
Michelangelo Buonarotti.The author
sketches the long life of the painter-sculptor-architect, but zeros in on six
masterpieces created by Michelangelo, to share with the reader vast amounts of
details about how the pieces came into existence.

The book proceeds chronologically, beginning with the early
life of Michelangelo.Along the way to
the six masterpieces, the minor works by the artist are discussed briefly.And all the people who were important in
Michelangelo's life are included in this book which is for real Michelangelo fanatics.

Mary with dead Jesus in St. Peter's Cathedral 1498

These are the chapters in the book, but they are deceptive,
as they are really only time dividers in the long life of Michelangelo.

Michelangelo, the Myth and the Man (Life up to the creation
of the Pieta)

The author points out that the Italian Renaissance was an
attempt to reclaim the glories of the past, glories that had declined during
the Middle Ages, and that were at risk of disappearing altogether.These glories included the collections of
ancient manuscripts, copying them, translating them, and disseminating their
contents.

Renewing the arts of painting, sculpture, metalworking, and
architecture were another part of the Italian Renaissance.Michelangelo profited from these efforts directly
under the patronage of the Medici.

Lorenzo Il Magnifico de' Medici was one of the fathers of
the Italian Renaissance, funding the finding of manuscripts, their copying and
translation, and the study of the liberal arts.So,
necessarily, this book is also a minor history of the Medici.

Detail from the Sistine Chapel ceiling 1510-1511

Part of the fun of reading about Michelangelo is that we
have many contemporary accounts of the man, even his contracts for work!And we have writings by Michelangelo himself,
which include poetry and letters.We
get an immediate impression of him from his own words, and this impression is
fleshed out by the words of his contemporaries.

The author makes good use of these resources.(I provide links below to some free e-book
editions of these works.)Because
Michelangelo was famous in his own lifetime, people kept anything relating to
him for posterity and for profit.So we
have even seemingly minor details saved for history.

Part of the Medici Tomb 1520-34

But foremost among the artist's accomplishments, according
to the author, was Michelangelo's creation of himself.

...Michelangelo transformed both the practice of art and our
conception of the artist's role in society.

Michelangelo's talent and long life earned him a status
other artists could only dream of.Popes, patrons and princes treated Michelangelo with respect.They conceded, as Michelangelo demanded, to
be given a free hand to create the art the patron had requested, without their
interference. Proud Michelangelo made it very clear that
he was was an artist not an artisan.

Last Judgment in Sistine Chapel 1536-1541

This is a book for real, die-hard Michelangelo fans who
desire more detail about the creation of his most famous works of art.Lots of detail.It is for fans to savor and to live
vicariously with the artistic genius.

Michelangelo the man is presented to us.We learn of his failings, his vanity, his
feckless family, his desires, his sins, his regrets, his passions, and his
old-man's search for a legacy.What was Michelangelo like, as a person? Well, the man was well known to be:

"driven, passionate, mercurial, irascible"

All is presented with a lovely prose style that is easy to
read.We are allowed to follow the
stories of how world-famous works of art were created, as if we were a fly on
the wall.But again, the level of detail
is something that will stun and pleasure die-hard fans, but might repel the
casual art lover.

Section of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican from Drawing by Michelangelo

St. Peter's Cathedral, the Dome, in Vatican Rome
1547-1567

From the book's description:

The life of one of the most revolutionary artists in
history, told through the story of six of his greatest masterpieces.

Among the immortals—Leonardo, Rembrandt, Picasso—Michelangelo stands alone as a
master of painting, sculpture, and architecture. He was not only the greatest artist in an age
of giants, but a man who reinvented the practice of art itself. Throughout his long career he clashed with
patrons by insisting that he had no master but his own demanding muse and
promoting the novel idea that it was the artist, rather than the lord who paid
for it, who was creative force behind the work.

Miles Unger narrates the astonishing life of this driven and difficult man
through six of his greatest masterpieces. Each work expanded the expressive range of the
medium, from the Pietà Michelangelo carved as a brash young man, to the apocalyptic
Last Judgment, the work of an old man tested by personal trials.

Throughout the course of his career he explored the full
range of human possibility. In the gargantuan David he depicts Man in the glory
of his youth, while in the tombs he carved for the Medici he offers a sustained
meditation on death and the afterlife. In the Sistine Chapel ceiling he tells
the epic story of Creation, from the perfection of God’s initial procreative
act to the corruption introduced by His imperfect children. In the final
decades of his life, his hands too unsteady to wield the brush and chisel, he
exercised his mind by raising the soaring vaults and dome of St. Peter’s in a
final tribute to his God.

A work of deep artistic understanding, Miles Unger’s Michelangelo brings to
life the irascible, egotistical, and undeniably brilliant man whose artistry
continues to amaze and inspire us after 500 years.

Simon & Schuster is a major force in today’s consumer
publishing industry, dedicated to bringing an extensive cross section of first
class information and entertainment in all printed, digital and audio formats
to a worldwide audience of readers.

Vasari includes his biography of Michelangelo in Book 9 of his series Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors & Architects, from which the author Miles J. Unger quotes many times. It is available for free from Project Gutenberg in various e-book formats.

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